News Papers Article Archive

Team gives underpass a floral facelift

Visitors using an “important” pedestrian gateway into Bury St Edmunds now have a “lovely floral welcome”.
The underpass at Parkway, by the multistorey car park and connecting to the town centre, has been revamped with new plants.
Bury in Bloom co-ordinated the sustainable planting scheme, designed by Rebecca Davis, horticultural officer at St Edmundsbury Borough Council.
Suffolk county councillor Mark

Ereira paid for the plants using his locality budget; the Ourburystedmunds group purchased the waste and cigarette
bins; B&Q donated a weed barrier membrane and gravel, and Bury in Bloom donated a hive for solitary bees and a ladybird house to be installed near the planting.
Bury in Bloom co-ordinator Melanie Lesser said: “This is a popular way into town and now visitors and will have a lovely floral welcome into our wonderful town.”

East Anglian Daily Times | Friday, July 11, 2014

Get busy with Crafty Cans

Now is the time to enter the Crafty Can Competition. Francesca Freeman, six, with one of the cans.

The pollinating flowers are due to bloom soon so now is the time to submit a photo and officially enter the Crafty Can Competition.
All participants are reminded to enter the competition, simply post the photo on the dedicated facebook page https://facebook.com/thecraftyfoxe-s.buryinbloom Please note as in the photo above any photo entered should include the child, the can and the bloom (Please add child's name, age and school).
In support of this year's Bury in Bloom many children have joined in the Crafty Foxes Crafty Can initiative by decorating their recycled cans and tending the seeds they planted.

Prizes will be awarded for the Craftiest Can, judged by the Crafty Foxes, the Best Bloom, judged by Terwins Seeds, and the Favourite Photo voted by Mercury readers.
Photos, which need to be submitted as soon as possible not later than July 14, are planned to be featured in forthcoming editions of The Mercury along with voting forms.
"The response so far has been terrific," said Michelle Freeman, at the Crafty Foxes. "The project has really engaged the children and after waiting patiently for
the blooms to arrive we hope they get captured on camera before they start to wilt."

Mercury | June 25, 2014

Second open gardens event on estate in support of charity

An open gardens event which is in its second year looks like it has doubled the amount of money i t has raised for charity compared to last time.
Yesterday's Open Gardens of Moreton Hall, in Bury St Edmunds, was organised by Lucy Newell and Jessica Darnell, who own the Coffee House in Lawson Place.
A total of 25 gardens were open for visitors to explore, and there were also stalls and face painting.
Miss Newell said she thought about 120 people had turned out for the event, and estimated about £2,000

had been raised for St Nicholas Hospice Care, based in Bury.
She said: "We have had a lot more people (compared to last year), 10 more gardens and everyone is so positive about it and just want i t to happen year
after year and haven't even been put off by the rain. They have still been coming and buying maps and everyone's in really good spirits."
The open gardens event is part of the Coffee House's efforts in the hospice's Towergate Accumulator Challenge.

East Anglian Daily Times

Plane sculpture plans on track

A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress pictured at the 2011 Rougham Air Display and Classic Car Show

ordinator, said: "It will be a substantial aircraft, but not full size."
"I'm really excited. I think it's going to look fabulous, plus the fact that whole side of the town is thriving, to have a sculpture there will be brilliant."
Two local blacksmiths have been given until the end of July to produce designs for the project, expected to cost at least £20,000. It is hoped the
sculpture will be in situ by May 8,2015, to mark 70 years since the end of the Second World War and will be lit up at night.
The chosen artist will also be required tocreate an accompanying interpretation board to be located near the roundabout for walkers to read.
Mrs Lesser is seekingmatch funding and is interested in hearing from families of those who served at the air base.
Call 01284 766955 or email melanie@buryinbloom.org.uk

Bury Free Press | May 30, 2014

Hospital's old oak tree is given a new lease of life - as an owl

An old oak tree in the grounds of West Suffolk Hospital has been given a new lease of life - as a carving of an owl.
Local wood sculptor Ben Loughrill used a chainsaw to create the owl, which is about two and a half feet tall.
The sculpture was the idea of Gylda Nunn, integrated therapies manager.
She said: "Some of the courtyards at the hospital are lovely - the hospital volunteers do a great job with them. This carving improves
the outlook for patients and staff into this courtyard too."
Lilian Wignall, from Mildenhall, a patient on ward F4, saw the transformation from her window.
She said: "I was intrigued to see how a simple tree trunk could be turned

into such a lovely piece of sculpture."
The sculpture was paid for with money from the hospital's charitable funds and a donation from Bury in Bloom.

East Anglian Daily Times | Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Blooms inspire fashion and textile students creations

Fashion and textile students have been inspired by a campaign which brings dazzling floral displays to Bury St Edmunds.
The West Suffolk College students are displaying their work, inspired by Bury in Bloom, at Elsey's Gallery, at Elsey's Yard, off Risbygate Street in Bury, until May 28.
The exhibition, called Coming Up Roses, features students' garments and soft furnishings.
Melanie Lesser, Bury in Bloom co-ordinator, said the work was "very professional" and really captured what Bury in Bloom is all about.
"They have captured the colours and different shapes of the flowers," she said. "I'm so delighted I would like to show the work to the Anglia in Bloom

judges when they visit the town on July 17."
Fashion and textile course leader Sue Brinkhurst said the students had responded with "imagination and flair" to the project. She added: "Melanie Lesser, who
inspired the project, has been very supportive and Cate Hadley, at Elsey's Gallery who kindly agreed to host the exhibition, has helped us a lot in getting it
under way."
The event has been sponsored by a range of sources, including Bury in Bloom, Havebury Housing Partnership and councillor Mark Ereira's locality
budget. The gallery is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm. Some of the designs will be for sale.

East Anglian Daily Times | Wednesday, May 14, 2014

SCHOOLS SET to dig vegetable patches

Seed donation for green-fingered students

Students across Bury St Edmunds will be digging the ground to grow their five-a-day thanks to a seed donation from Terwins Seeds.

Terry Rayner of Terwins Seeds, Cockneld, presented the seeds to all the schools that entered Bury in Bloom's Young Green Fingers competition this year.

The students will be growing carrots, radishes, cucumbers, peas, courgettes, beetroots, cabbage and lots of other delicious vegetables.

The river will be in full bloom in July.
Melanie Lesser, In Bloom coordinator, said: "It will look stunning and we've had lots of positive comments from people. We like the fact there's a footpath running
through it."
Mr Bloom's idea for a River of Flowers started at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2000 when Geranium Rozanne was introduced in a gold medal winning garden. The plant even
has its own Facebook page and Twitter account.
The river is sponsored by Bressingham Gardens, Suffolk County and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils as well as Our Bury St Edmunds.
Meanwhile, West Suffolk College is sponsoring the roundabout for three years.
Tollgate Primary has planted a stream of flowers in its grounds.

Bury Free Press Friday, April 11, 2014

Team effort is behind 'river of flowers' at road junction

(Photo by GREGG BROWN)Edie Key mer gets digging as she helps to create a "river of flowers" at the Tollgate Triangle.

Green-fingered students have helped to spruce up a Bury St Edmunds junction.

Tollgate Primary School pupils and students from West Suffolk College helped to create a "river of flowers" at the Tollgate Triangle in the town on Thursday. The Bury
in Bloom group, which is behind the initiative, has been working with Adrian Bloom from Bressingham Gardens, who has designed and provided the plants for the scheme.

Bury in Bloom co-ordinator Melanie Lesser said it was the first time the plant had been used as a river on a roundabout/triangle in the UK.

Planting with Adrian Bloom on the Tollgate Triangle, Click Here for images and videos.

East Anglian Daily Times

Canny kids urged to get crafty for Britain in Bloom anniversary

(Photo by PHIL MORLEY)From left, Maisy Freeman, Archie Atkins and Francesca Freeman at the launch of the Crafty
Can project in the Abbey Gardens, Bury.

Children are being encouraged to get crafty and grow flowers in decorated recycled cans as part of the celebrations for Britain in Bloom's 50th anniversary.
The Bury St Edmunds "Crafty Foxes" craft group is inviting children to use their artistic skills to embellish their can as creatively as possible and then
plant seeds in it.
Once watered and in full bloom, they can take a photograph of the flowers in situ and send it to a dedicated Facebook page.
The seeds, donated by Terwins Seeds, are wildflower cornfield annuals which are pollinating plants that appeal especially to butterflies and bees.
According to Bury in Bloom co-ordinator, Melanie Lesser, as hedgerows have declined during the past 50 years since the Britain in Bloom challenge began, the hope
is that a new generation of gardeners will appreciate the importance of promoting pollination.

She said: "Bury in Bloom has been involved in encouraging school projects for many years and this challenge offers a chance for parents or grandparents to pass on their
gardening knowledge."
The other sponsor, Woolpit Nurseries, has supplied compost and Premier Printers produced the instruction leaflets.
Crafty Foxes co-ordinator Michelle Freeman said the project would encourage a new green-fingered generation.
She added: "It will allow some budding young Bury town gardeners, who may not have the luxury of a garden to glory in, to still be a part of Bury in Bloom.
I am also looking forward to seeing all the creative ways the children decorate their cans."
Photos can be posted at www.facebook.com/thecraftyfoxes. buryinbloom or hard copies sent to Crafty Can Competition, 26 Mustow Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1XL
before July 20.

East Anglian Daily Times

Wildflowers and craft cans help green town

Bury in Bloom has been getting creative with two projects which will help to 'green' the town. Children at Crafty Foxes craft workshops have been creating
floral arrangements in a can while apprentice gardeners have been laying a wild flower grassed area in The Great Churchyard. Melanie Lesser, from Bury in Bloom,
said: "We have many unique small projects underway thisyear, which is the 50th anniversay of the In Bloom organisation and we want Bury to mark that well."

Bury Free Press

Wildflower turf goes down to spruce-up historic part of town

Work is under way to spruce up one of the most historic parts of Bury St Edmunds as the building blocks for a wildflower meadow were put down.
Young gardeners Matt Drayton and Lee Bird, two landscape apprentices from the intermediate apprenticeship scheme at West Suffolk College, were busy laying
the wildflower turf in The Great Churchyard off Crown Street yesterday.
The two apprentices did so under the watchful eye of Charles Hudleston from Great Cornard-based firm Greenscape, which has

supplied the turf from which three different grasses and 31 different flowers will eventually flourish.
Bury in Bloom co-ordinator Melanie Lesser said: "We are so lucky to have this area of green space in the heart of the town. The wildflowers will attract pollinators
and we hope to see an increase in their numbers this year, as the RHS are keen to promote planting pollinators for their 50th year of Britain in Bloom."
John Smithson, West Suffolk's park operations manager, added: "This is a great project to have involved our apprentices."

Abbey Gardens staff bank on providing a big bed of poppies

(Photo by PHIL MORLEY)Work has started in the Abbey Garden in Bury to create a bank of poppies
(inset) to mark the centenary of the beginning of the First World War.

Work is under way to create a dazzling display of poppies as one town does its bit to commemorate 100 years since the start of the First World War.
A team of workers yesterday began clearing a bank on the River Lark in the Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds, which will soon be home to a vast bed of poppies.
The ambitious display is being co-ordinated between Bury in Bloom and St Edmundsbury Borough Council, with the project due to flower in the coming months
and eventually become a wildflower bed for the whole town to enjoy.
John Smithson, the council's park operations manager, said: " It was really the only area we could have considered for having a poppy

display in the Abbey Gardens.
"To do that, we need to prepare the ground a bit. " If all goes well it should look pretty spectacular from the other side of the river.
"Preparatory work will continue over the coming weeks, with tree surgeons due to remove a big sycamore tree that was not part of the area's original planting.
Mr Smithson's team will then start clearing nettles from the bank, which is currently used as a wildlife area.
The poppies will be split into three blocks, using willow trees on the bank as a divide.
Other seeds will be planted with the poppies to flower later in the year, while the area long-term will evolve into a wildflower bed.